The Terrible Adventures of Cat-Dog

He was blaming this on the old hag. It was a childish thing- which stemmed from an even more childish time- but the stories of the witch had carried on even to his adolescence just as strong as it had when his grandmother had first whispered the tale to a young boy, clutching at the patched sheets of his bed with terrified eyes and a gaping mouth. His fondly loved grandmother, her face hardened with the lines of age and an escaping lock of her wispy grey hair falling down her forehead, a woman herself who could perfectly embody what a young child would imagine the old hag to manifest itself as, had leaned into the child's ear- her sweet voice carried a twist of menace in the dark of the room, a piece of warning dripping from every word of the traditional bedtime lore.

'The old hag,' She had told him, too many years ago for him to clearly remember her exact words, the exact time, 'finds naughty little boys. The old hag waits until naughty little boys are asleep and dreaming, comfy in their knitted vamps and quilted sheets, waits until they are dreaming-'.

Roric Keats rolled onto his back, his snore breaking into an unhappy grunt. He felt a heavy weight pressing itself down on his chest, as if a person had been kneeling on him, trying to strangle him. The very feeling his kind, old grandmother had played out for him when he was only a wee little youngling. Of course, since that time, Roric had grown- his face had slimmed, his body stretched into a tall, lanky build, his black messy hair grown to a sort of puffy spike fashion- still finding himself hag-rode, though. With painful slowness the young man opened his eyes, trying to blink back the sleep still dragging at his lids. The world opened above him, a million freckles of distant light splattered along the black of the night sky. The stars, the thin curve of the quarter moon, the pain on his chest.

'and punishes them for all their naughty behaviour-'

He tried peeling his arms off the rough surface of the roof, groggily hoisting his body up into a sitting position. His head fell into his hands, trying to hold his skull from breaking, to catch the little liquid drips of brain that would surely be escaping through his fingers at any moment. The movement caused the pain to slip from his chest, falling into the pit of his stomach with a groan. Where was he?

'she gobbles up their fingers and munches on their toes-'

Trying to think was hard. His brain felt just as mushy as his body, an old ache catching all over. He was on a roof. It seemed completely silent and still- but his ears were ringing. His tongue, caught between his front teeth, could taste the coldness of the air. His nose wrinkled- yes, all his senses seemed to be on overdrive at the moment, but his nose, god, this was almost unbearable. He forced himself to concentrate on the smell closest to him, the scent clinging strongly to his own black shirt. Alcohol.

'she pulls out their guts, just like a fish, just like a naughty puppy dog, she sews them back up and-'

He was hung-over. From between his fingers Roric glanced back across the roof. No wonder he couldn't remember his name. No wonder he couldn't remember where he was or how he got here. He tried smiling, a stupid 'wow, that must have been the best party ever'. All the other party-goers must be somewhere. They must be downstairs, or on the street. He'd get up, walk down to them, and they'd laugh and joke about all the stupid shit they did last night. Roric stands, although his body does not quite seem caught up with this new plan, and he takes a few awkward steps to his left and trips over his own boots. His face melts back into the ground with a crack.

Screams echoed in rumbling waves that rolled against the walls inside his mind, faint whispers of shouts and sounds of struggle winding it's way through the swelling, muffled noise.

He saw faces he knew, faces he remembered though names swept through the silenced waves and remained forgotten. Air was being squeezed out of his lungs, his throat shut tight. There was pressure around his throat...hands. Surely this was a dream. Or was it a memory? Suddenly everything was swallowed up into silence again, bubbles, water, gurgling, more pain.

A wind swept past him in the opposite direction as he felt himself being hurled through a space.

Nyll's eyes snapped open.

Sky.

He lay on the ground, the solid, concrete floor beneath him somehow something he hadn't expected for some reason. The man couldn't move, or perhaps he didn't want to. He continued to stare, blinking once more, twice. The man couldn't remember how he had gotten there, but he thought surely he would remember and that it must be the time of day... whatever time it was.

The ground quivered slightly as someone or something nearby seemed to fall to the floor.

Nyll turned his head, so slightly, as if his neck were caught in a steel cast.

His throat hurt, and he wanted to ask who it was, but the first measly sound he uttered sounded like an animal.

Confused, he tried again and it was clearly a meow. Nyll coughed, curling to the side and holding his stomach, his throat, his head as pain returned to his body.

He opened his eyes and saw very clearly a man not too far away from him, almost too clearly. His head swirled and he shut his eyes again.

Roric's legs awkwardly pushed himself forward, momentarily just scraping his forehead further into the cement below him. A feeble whisper of a laugh brushed past his lips, trying desperatly now to laugh back the stinging of his head, the confusion of his surrondings. The idiotic giggling continued as he propped himself back up onto his elbows, snorting as he finally stood. His eyes were half closed, wincing to the new searing in his frontal lobe. His body swayed weakly, planting his weight firmly in the flat of his foot to try and balance himself properly this time.

Meow.

His intense focus on the balancing act was broken- his head lifting with a confused blank stare. He was forced to take in the world again, looking dumbly straight ahead at the stretch of roof and the dark, dreary sky that expanded beyond that; forced back into a string of numbed thoughts and questions.

Roric's hands patted down the side of his pants, suddenly seeming to remember something. A habit, anyway, that now needed to be preformed. Wake up in strange place after supposed partying. Check for...yeah, good. Roric beamed at the object he had pulled from his front pocket, the sort of relieved look one would usually save to finding their lost wallet in these circumstances. Shutter shades. Bright, obnoxious, orange shutter shades.

Party. Wake up. Make sure he didn't lose awesome sunglasses. Yeah, this was nothing new. Old habits made this unusual spot less confusing. Nothing to worry about at all.

With his vision now oddly cut from between the lines of his glasses Roric turned his head, now properly examining the roof. A large smile stretched across his face. A body. Another person.

Roric quickly stumbled towards the stranger, the tips of his large rubber boots actually prodding into Nyll's side before stopping. He leaned over, his bruised and shutter shade filled face still beaming.

He didn't know this man. He couldn't put a name to this red-haired stranger, probably a good ten years or so on Roric. Despite all that...Roric knew him. It felt like the memory of a memory. Faint and fading- tugging silently at his thoughts, and something that Roric did not even consider questioning. His stomach flopped uncomfortably, but Roric shared with Nyll the same grin he had moments ago finding his sunglasses.

Without hesitation his hand drifted downwards, placing itself on the man's shoulder, harshly trying to shake Nyll awake. Roric opened his mouth, his voice cutting through the night with the same sharp harshness of his prodding,

The red-haired man slowly opened his eyes again, indeed the focus strangely too strong, but he tried his best to cope with it. Steadily placing his palms against the cool cement, he propped himself up and squinted at the man that had been obnoxiously shaking him seconds before.

Speaking of obnoxious, what the hell was he wearing on his face.

Nyll wondered if this was just a strange strange dream.

He cleared his throat until he was certain he could try to utter human words, "...Ny--"

Let's try again, "Don't..."

Okay good.

"I don't, understand what you're saying," Yes. His head was swirling as well, his new green eyes glazed and continuously blinking to get used to his vision.

He didn't know this man, he looked funny, and he was speaking gibberish to him.

This was a dream. It had to be.

Nyll got on all fours and climbed up, standing straight. Now finally paying attention to his surroundings, he realized where he was. To his disappointment, it was not a place he recognized. Even details that were too clear, many buildings away, did not reveal familiar shape that reassured the man. He groaned.

The smile didn't waver. Roric leant forward, his hands resting on his knees, tilting back slightly as he continued to study this newfound partner with interest. It wasn't that Roric hadn't heard that Nyll couldn't understand him- no, his hearing was being painfully amplified- it was just seeming not to be much of a concern at the moment.

Yeah, this was normal. Not the everyday sort of normal- But Roric felt that the confused tone in Nyll's voice was nothing new to him. He had travelled before (short distances, but still far enough. From one town to its neighbour) and had met others who didn't speak in the same manner as him. He could faintly recall a few names of these people and how stupid their accents sounded to him. Slang and phrases had been picked up here and there- and now, meeting a person who couldn't catch up with Roric's tongue at first seemed familiar enough.

"Heh, luh, dun' go tellin' me Io go's riogh' stu' wid sum bayman, b'y," He was joking, teasing in the same friendly way he would when normally finding himself with someone from a different patch of territory. He seemed convinced it would only take Nyll a moment to catch on to this form of english.

Nyll stood, and Roric's face twisted into a slight scowl. The movement had caused the air to shift around them, a suddenly overpowering scent filling Roric's nose.

Cat.

He watched Nyll's back as the man seemed to be taking in the surroundings. The scowl stayed for a moment, for the first time seeming puzzled over the stranger. His stomach gurgled, almost sounding like it was emitting soft growl.

No, it didn't. No sound. Just an uncomfortable, twisting sort of feeling.

Roric straightened back up, quickly tossing this new confusion out of his mind, and took a step to stand beside Nyll. He gave a stupid little nod as if agreeing.

Nyll turned back around and looked at Roric properly before scrunching up his nose who knows why. Roric just smelled funny and he didn't really like it but he ignored it momentarily.

"Right... right something about how this is a mess, and getting down," Nyll had heard his own share of accents, but this one was new. However he hoped his experience with accents in general would at least boost him into learning this one a bit quicker.

This man really did make him feel uneasy though. Not his looks, just... something. The hair on the back of his neck bristled and he felt the need to keep his distance.

But to be polite, he decided he should still at least provide and ask for a name.

"Uh. My name's Nyll. What's yours? I figure if we're going to be the only two people we see for the next few moments we might as well know who we are," More like if we don't know where we are, at least let us make sure we know who we are. Make sure they weren't dreaming and make sure they weren't wandering nameless lunatics.

Nyll's attempt at deciphering sent Roric back into a giddy exaggeration of head nodding. He was obviously more than a little excited that the man had caught at least half of what he said. He gave a stupid little chuckle, pushing the sliding glasses back up his nose. Also, a quick note to self to not move his head around like that so much. The world was spinning now, increasing the irritation of his stomach and senses further.

It was hard to tell if Roric had made the actual choice to move, or if it was now just him stumbling dizzily to the side and trying to follow through with the movement as if he meant it all along. Anyway, he was now ambling over to one side of the roof. Trying his best not to land on his face again.

"Roric Keats!" He called back over his shoulder, flashing another toothy grin. He turned back to the ledge of the roof, now just seeming to be carrying on with usual conversation as he searched, "Yeaahhh. Io'm riogh' sure d'udders eh dow'ere, loike. Heh. Prolly gonna 'a'roigh' canterin' o'er h'all dis shi', eh, b'y! Jesssus, Io 'opes me..uh..".

He had meant to say he hoped someone was down there. On the street, where he still naively believed a good group of people would be waiting, from the party he still believed he went to. Roric continued tracing the ledge, his brow furrowing as his memory faltered over the name. He wanted this certain person there to give him a ride home...and...uh...Usually, even when he was hung-over, Roric didn't forget people. Especially ones that he really felt he should remember. After all, this person was...

A ladder.

"LUH, LUH, LUH. FOUN' EH!" Roric hollered back, feeling the need to also wave his arms back at Nyll. As if the roof wasn't small enough for the two to clearly see each other. Roric turned his attention back to the ladder, happily staring down at his find. An old, rusted fire-escape. He leant forward, pushing the weight of his arms onto the rails. It gave a loud creaking grind in protest, chips of paint already flaking off and vanishing into the blackness of the street below.

"The others?" Nyll gave Roric a bit of a look. What others? Nyll himself couldn't remember anything that happened anywhere close to the present. There was a huge chunk missing and all he could remember was the basics of his identity and just a bit more.

The redhead peered over the edge of the city and looked out, turning in a half-circle, his shoes scraping across the cement of the roof. Silence. There was no one. At least not anyone that Roric could call 'the others'. It sounded like he was expecting people.

He sighed. Not remembering things really didn't cut it for Nyll. He usually didn't get himself drunk either so he wouldn't blame it on a hangover. This was unbelievably unnerving.

And then Roric found a ladder.

Nyll looked the ladder over and gave it one big look of skepticism, a corner of his upper lip curling up to show a sharp canine, his eyebrows knitted upwards in doubt.

"Looks like something that'd easily send you to the first floor in seconds," Eyeroll.

He was laughing, his head still tilted down to the ladder. Obviously, where Nyll was seeing a major haphazard in climbing down a rusted ladder that would probably collapse with little more than a butterflies weight, Roric was just seeing a very fast route to the ground. He lurched his body forward again, pressing more of his upper-body weight on the railing and listening to the whiny creaking of the object, "We wanna do eh's wid a roigh' lap 'n a lick, b'y!".

He'd thrown his feet over the ledge before Nyll's eyes could even stop rolling. His rubbers connected with the thin bar of metal, the vibration of the shaking metal spreading through his legs and ringing out in the air. Roric wobbled uneasily for a moment, passing this off as he shot another toothy grin up at his partner. Yes, so far, so good.

"Yeah, b'y, Io'm riogh' cer'ain d'uddes'll be, loike, keepin' a roigh' blin' high'ou' fer us now, Io 'opes d'lo' bided eh'one place, loike-", Roric lowered his head for a moment, disappearing from the roof ledge as he began stepping down the ladder rungs. He was still going to keep chattering away, though. Seeming much more focused on having a pleasant conversation with his new best roof buddy then paying attention to the dangerously swaying ladder he was scaling.

Roric glanced down over his shoulder, grinning again. Not that much further until his feet would be back on solid ground. His entire body shifted with the shaking ladder again as he raised his head back up to shout, "LUH, B'Y, WE CA' GO TA' ROIGH' GUNNY FE- OOOOOFUC-"

His foot meet another piece of rung, before feeling it collapse. His hands slid painfully for a moment, scraps of paint and rust embedding into his gripping palms as his feet fell into open space. It was only a second before Roric felt himself free falling, still caught in the surprise at what was happening. The confusion didn't even fully have time to set in before Roric landed with a loud 'THUNK'.

"uuugghh, me arseeee," The pained sound dribbled from his lips, slowly turning the side of his body and propping himself half up with one arm. There was an obvious hurt from falling through the rungs of the broken ladder and onto the unforgiving pavement below- but Roric also felt the uncomfortable sting of having also landed on an object in his back pocket. Hard, square, and metal or something. His hand groped stupidly, pulling out the small grey container. Shiny, with a tiny screw off top. He...didn't remember ever putting a flask in his pocket. Ow.

Ow. Ow. Ow. Shit. Ow. He was going to have a square-shaped bruise on his ass.

"Uuuhh, NYLL. B'Y. WACH' DE BO'OM STEP, LUH," He figured he should give a little warning. Although, Nyll had probably seen his spectacular spill. He tenderly put the flask back in his pocket, and reached out for his shades on the ground beside him. Ow.

"Idiot! You seriously went--Aww shit!" Nyll winced as he watched Roric fall on his ass from the bottom of the ladder.

"Shit, the last thing I wanna do is go down that ladder. What if the first rung breaks instead of the last when I go down?!" Nyll looked around the roof in frustration but failed to find any other way down. Dammit this building had absolutely not roof access. There was no inside way down. In the end he walked back to the rusty ladder and huffed.

"Dammit I'm just going to have to do this..." Nyll rolled up his sleeves, cricked his neck to the right and climbed over, gently putting his foot down on the first railing.

It held.

Nyll sighed in relief. Gripping the edges of the ladder, he lowered his other leg while leaning his body close to the ladder.

"This thing doesn't seem that broken after aaAAAAUUURRRHH!!" Nyll should've just shut his big mouth because the second railing gave way and he was falling straight through the air, his hands long waving goodbye to the ladder.

By instinct (?) his body twisted and the sky turned towards the floor as he flew towards it, landing on the ground hands and feet first. The impact was still painful and he rolled to the side, but somehow his fall was cushioned from his bent arms and legs, though he swore he injured his foot somewhere.

"SHIT! SHIT! I think I twisted my fucking ankle SHIT!" Nyll rolled onto his side, a small cloud of dust flying up around him as he held his foot.

The shutter shades are safely back on Roric's face as he turns his head up, smiling lazily through the haze of pain now numbing through his backside. Nyll's mumbling on about something, and for a moment the red haired man disappears back behind the roofs ledge. Keats closes his eyes, drawing in a slow breath of air.

This city...wherever he is, doesn't seem- smell or feel or whatever-...familiar. He'd really like to go home. He's still hoping quietly that the person he can't quite put a name too at the moment will be there to drive him. He'll be standing with the group of everyone else from the party at the front of the building. They'll all be waving and after a bit of a yarn, Roric and chummy fellow can leave. They could go home.

Home...

The sound of shoes on metal cue Roric to open his eyes, tilting his head up to watch Nyll daintily setting down on the first rung. He feels a slight need to yell something encouraging up to the poor bastard, but has only opened his mouth when the sound of the shattering ladder interrupts.

Shared pain.

A wave of heat raced up Roric's ankle, he ceased his brows and gave a low mumble of surprise. He didn't understand it- and defiantly was not aware that he was having his first experiences with the 'shared partner pain' tick business- and quickly owed all this up to 'pity pain' or something for his friend. The feeling soon numbed down, and even to begin with Nyll defiantly felt the impact much more.Roric stood, and gave a slightly apologetic wave of his hand. He kept his hand out for Nyll, lamely offering help up.

Nyll was stubborn and had man ego so he ignored the hand that offered help and stumbled awkwardly onto his feet, well, foot.

He tried to roll his hurt ankle but it only stung more so he stopped and leaned on his good one.

"Alright genius, what are we supposed to do now? There's absolutely no one here and I have no idea where we are!" The redhead was growing impatient because now not only were they stranded somewhere unfamiliar, he had an irritating sore in his ankle.

Rejected, Roric's hand moves back, both now resting on his hip. That goofy smile lingered, observing now as Nyll moved painfully onto his own two legs. The shutter shades slipped slightly as he gave a small grimace; yep, that didn't look very comfortable at all. No more ladder climbing tonight, then.

He was obviously paying no attention to Nyll's point that there was no one else in this strange place but them. Truthfully...there was something, besides Nylls annoyed tone, nagging at the back of his mind. This place was empty. Nyll was right. His human side wasn't aware, didn't want to be aware...but his heightened senses could already feel the loneliness of their surroundings. No smell of people. No sound of distant chattering, footsteps, or beating hearts- and that loneliness was sinking into Roric's chest. Making the corners of that big stupid grin drop slightly, he continued to fighting against these senses and to hold onto his minds certainty.

"C'mo', Nyll, b'y," Roric tilted his head, motioning to the opening of the alleyway they had landed in. He walked forward, boots noisily moving on pavement.

So there they were, standing in front of this empty dusty city that they never knew. Lost, whether they knew it or not. There was much silence. Even the breeze was so quiet; it only wanted to brush past, not wanting to be noticed. Nyll sniffed the air.

"Well, I guess we should go somewhere at least, instead of standing around..." He felt glum, and it wasn't just his ankle. He started walking before Roric could say anything, trying not to limp for pride's sake thought it was still obvious. Things were just starting to sink in you know? He really didn't want to admit it, but god damn this was beginning to really prove that is wasn't a dream.

Instead of sniffing the air, something in the air caught his nose instead now.

He smelt it. Something that smelled familiar.. a bit like Roric in fact, but far more disturbing.

The hair on the back of Nyll's neck frizzed up and he hissed, pupiles dilating. The world refocused and it nearly knocked him into a wobble but with a blink he stabilized himself again.

He didn't even have time to swear with all this inconvenient new crap that was going on with his body before he heard something. Paws pattering against the floor. Something was coming.

This foreign world stretched out beyond them, a dreary broken street filled with broken buildings and broken hopes. Inhabited by tumbling shops and crushed concrete, shattered glass and rotting wood- and not a single human soul.

Roric’s heart sank, the feeling hitting the bottom of his gut and stirring another wave of nausea. His hand, absentmindedly, found itself on his back pocket, resting on the cap of the metal flask. Too quickly his human part had met with his stronger instincts, the truth of their sudden loneliness, the knowledge that no one else was here. No party the previous night. No friends waiting for him on the street below. No one waiting for him, ready to drive him back to the place he missed already so much.

Nyll’s words were lost to Roric, snapping out of his ruminations of abandonment, only as the man started to limp away. Without a word, he followed.

“…S’loike…a roigh’ crackie?” He had stopped beside Nyll, catching the same scent in the wind. Yeah. It…had a sort of familiar smell to it. The nearing sounds of paws on the ground and panting breathing trigged Roric to think of dogs, the smell close but different in some way.

He brushed past his partner, wanting to investigate the strange oncoming creatures. Obviously, even in normal situations, this would be a terrible idea. The same fear that made Nyll freeze behind him, was nothing but curiosity to Keats-

The creatures that came flying into Roric’s vision, certainly, were not the dogs he had in mind. They were not the mutts that filled his home town’s streets, and they were not the fancy work dogs that stayed tied up in the back of sheds and garages. They were…Toothdogs. About the same size of the dogs he was used to, fur matted and black as the night behind them, and…mouths. Two mouths. Somewhere very far away from himself, the self standing in the middle of this abandoned street, a piece of Roric laughed. It was…almost like a silly cartoon monster racing towards them. The two tongues flopping out from the side of the dogs mouths.Back to the abandoned street. Back to Roric frozen, standing in a stunned stupor as three great black beasts thundered towards him and Nyll. He was trying to force his feet back into movement, to turn and run from the danger- too late. The Toothdogs were a single bound from him, maws open and razor sharp teeth ready to sink into soft human flesh. There was no time to react, it was too late-

Roric braced himself for an impact that never hit. His arms were raised, feeling muscled bodies and fur graze just by him. Surprised, Roric opened his eyes, his mouth falling open dumbly. The Toothdogs, who looked so intent on killing everything in their path, for whatever reason, had not even paused to the Newfoundlander. He smiled, slowly, thinking the danger had passed. Oh- wait- No.He turned, quickly; the dogs were barreling straight for Nyll. For some reason…Roric already knew they wouldn’t just run by his partner, too. No. Nyll would not be so fortunate. Roric was moving, trailing after the dogs- trying, trying; he wouldn’t reach Nyll before the dogs. He didn’t know how he was going to help in anyway- but he still felt, he had to, in some way-

Nyll had absolutely no time to register let alone react to the strange fact that the dogs flew past Roric. He probably wouldn't notice for quite a while. What was important that this very split second, crazy-ass double-mouthed dogs were flying at him and he didn't like it.

"FUCKING FUCK!!" He barely finished the second curse before he flung his arms towards his face, ducking, or more like, becoming unbalanced. A heavy paw pushed off of his arm, the other dogs missing him as he fell ungraciously to the dusty ground. The dogs stumbled and rolled over their tiny feet as they landed, giving Nyll some precious seconds to scramble halfway up.

The dogs, skittering and turning with their tongues flopping out of their open mouths, came back for Nyll.

The redhead held his scratched arm and ran towards Roric, "RORIC! WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO, WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO!"

Two men find themselves without memory in a barren city they never knew, and next they get attacked by mutant dog monsters. This had to be a dream. This had to be a dream.

There was another sound. No, more then one sound. A collection of noises.

The hybrid slowed her voracious step, tail still wrapped around her partner's wrist. Head tilted in some unknown direction, carefully, she listened.

There was the sound of claws on ashphalt, small, clumsy paws stumbling for a firm footing, fur blowing in the wind of their running. She could hear their tongues dangling lazily from their mouths, teeth gnashing, and the sound of people.Two of them, male. One....obviously talked a smidge strange, with a sort of raw canine-like tone to his voice. The other, more raunchy, feline even. She didn't know what either of those animals were, but they were very distinct characteristics, and she could easily tell them apart, even though she could not see them. However, these were not the pleasent, cool, calm, collected voices that she knew were right. Fear clung to their throats like some ugly parasite, panic clearly imbedded in both their voices.There was something else she heard, that raised all the hairs on the back of her neck; she heard a jump, followed by the soft, wet ripping noise that flesh makes when it is cut. The gurgling of blood carreening down it. And then the heavy, ungraceful thud of a body hitting the ground.

Tail still around Mika's wrist, Destiny broke into a run, following the sound. She said nothing, leading them both down the street, past the broken shops and mangled street lamps. It didn't take long before she felt their wet dog like smell wafting into her nostrils. Following those cues, they came up to a scene, which made her balk.

There they were, the canine and the feline, and three rather large quadrupedal creatures. They had jet black, greasy matted fur, ears long, flicking. Their tiny paws gave them the appearace of unbalanced creatures, in a flase attampt to make them look elegant. No, instead their snout ended in a gaping maw, lined with a single row or yellowing teeth, two of those teeth on finger like apparatus. And a second jaw, wide, almost grinning murderously, on their chest, wetting the fur around it with a clear dribble of slobber.She could tell they had no intention to stop attacking. Yet the two men seemed in dire need for a hand. Perhaps a tail, and a powerful claw.Letting go of Mika now, Destiny dived into the action, baring her own row of sharp canines, naked and exposed as her body. She almost roared, a low grumbling snarl, as she dove for the toothdog that was attacking the red haired feline. With a large clawed hand she gripped the animal's head, yanking it backwards, redirecting it's crash course into another direction, away from the two men, and up into the air. It's body seemed to have a hard time catching up with the motion of it's head, paws flailing slightly as it's body bends ungracefully backwards. She could hear the strain in the muscles of it's neck and torso area, the soft tissues streching around it's second mouth.In the fray of the action, she had not noticed the other two toothdogs.

The dogs reached Nyll long before his partner could. Shared pain only registered as a quick spread of heat over his arm, not even noticed in the moment, as Nyll was thrown to the ground by one of the great beasts and the smell of blood drifted into the air.

"B'Y, URRR, WE TA-" Mouth and eyes wide, tongue stumbling stupidly over any sort of proper response, as Nyll flung himself away from the dogs, Roric's arms uselessly raising from his sides, only now beginning to realize how empty they felt. Man, he wished he had a baseball bat, a shotgun, a fishing pole- anything.

Okay. Less trying to talk, and more action- running. Roric turned, his foot already committed to the first step when he stumbled unceremoniously, barely managing to regain his balance; his vision filling with something much more unexpected even then three giant mutant dogs with six hungry mouths snapping at their backs-

Women.

Two of them- wait. Well- sort of women. Both figures looked, for the most part, human. The one in the back, long brown hair reaching past those curvy hips, past a pair of impressive, round br- (Yes. He was about to be ripped apart in the middle of some street. Honestly, there wasn't a lick of shame in a final voyeuristic glance, right?)- Err. more importantly. She was glowing. Like a little light bulb. The other- Roric gave a stupid little grunt, having to actually turn his head to keep up with the sudden movement of Destiny flying towards one of those dogs- was defiantly less human. Sporting those odd, spiked limbs, and a long, equally dangerous looking tail; As she moved past the two, Roric was able to catch her scent, a harsh sort of cleanness brushing in the air past him. It was strange- comparable to no animal or person within the Newfoundlanders admittedly small knowledge. Still, holding a definite muskiness, a nearly intoxicating mix, just as bold and puzzling as the woman brawling with the toothdog. Oh, and she was naked.

His brain couldn't keep up with all this. This really must be some sort of strange dream, filled with mutant dogs and glow stick girls and naked demon chicks-

"Urf," Keats snapped back to the moment, suddenly realizing there were still two snarling toothdogs, awkwardly skipping out of way from Destiny's impressive grasp, towards the much easier, weaker prey. Him, Nyll, and Mika. He needed a weapon, he needed anything- but again, the dogs were definitely not coming for him. There was a loud snarl, one of the creatures jaws spreading open as it reached again for the man standing beside Roric.

"'EYYY, BLOO'EE CRACKIE!" Found his voice again. In a quick, unthought movement, his curled fist connected with the toothdogs face about to take a bite out of Nyll. Surprised, the beast stumbled sideways with a little yelp. It was back on its feet again- and there was a brief moment of shared stupidity- as Roric and the dog could only stare at the other. And then...the beast seemed to finally realize Roric's presence, realize the juicy human skin and meat wrapped around his bones. The toothdog stood, growling with the second, as Roric raised his fists again, yelling back at Nyll, "UHHH. BE'EN ROIGH' SCREEDLESS AIN' A ROIGH' GUD T'ING, LUH".

Last edited by xsparky on Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:33 am; edited 1 time in total

Mika's senses weren't nearly as honed as Destiny's, but the strange metal in her arm (so ugly, so painful) tingled and "told" her that the other girl noticed something not too far away. The brunette heard the sound of movement, and finally snarling as she bit one plump bottom lip lightly. She didn't like this, she didn't like it at all.

When Destiny picked up the pace, that comforting tail around her slim waist prompted her to move with the strange hybrid. Mika easily kept up with the swiftly moving woman, grace of a dancer carrying her in a pace that kept up with that darting creature without so much as causing a strain on the glowing female. It became apparent what Destiny smelled and heard soon enough, Mika's own eyes going wide as the tail slid from her waist to follow it's master with a speed that was hard to see. The feeling was accompanied the weight of lead falling into the bottom of her stomach, Mika's eyes darting after Destiny's blurred form before looking at Roric and finally at the snarling, toothy faces of the beasts attacking them.

She stood silent for a moment before finally screaming, balling her fists and pressing them against her temples before running. The woman probably moved as fast as Destiny, snagging up a large rock before trying to bash it against the head of the nearest dog. Mika shrieked as she did all of this, looking like she was about to cry as she bashed away blindly at whatever happened to be furry and frightening.

"YOU KNOW WHAT RORIC? I HAVE THIS UNCANNY FUCKING FEELING THAT THE DOGS LIKE ME MORE THAN YOU! WHY?" It was a rhetorical question, since he really really did not know. Now was not the time to find out, but by now he was quite sure that he was being targeted just a little bit more than Roric was, and he didn't like it.

On another completely different note, there were two women.

They didn't look normal. Not at all. This didn't amuse him, even though they were helping them fight off these dog-things. He was going to address them, but they suddenly seemed to become busy and he decided not to.

Back to his own situation. Really, there were no weapons, there wasn't anything they could use except for rock and dust, unless they tried to get something from inside one of the buildlings.

Hm.

"Hey! Rori--" Nyll was cut off as one of the toothdogs scrambled after him and tried to snap at his head again. He dodged this one cleanly this time, as he was slightly more focused on the game, "FUCK I'M TALKING HERE."

The redhead pointed at any of the random houses, "Let's find stuff to use, anything! There must be a fucking chair SOMEWHERE in any decent building, right?"

Right?

Hell, he didn't know. If this was abandoned city he'd be damned if they got themselves trapped in a ROOM with these things and NOTHING to work with. Looking through windows first would be an ideal move before running into enclosed spaces.

With a single handed strong grip on the creature's head, Destiny kept pulling back. The tooth dog's neck reached as far back as it could, it's front legs flailing aimlessly though the air, chest-mouth stretched wide open, little cracks appearing at the corners where the skin was beginning to rip open. She stepped on it's back, pinning it down in a very awkward position; with it's front legs in the air, it's pelvis glued to the city street, it looked like it was about to be folded in half. It screamed, barked, whimpered, yet the girl ignored this. Somehow, there was no expression on that long face of hers, it was blank, cold, calculating. Even with the snarl curled on her lips you could not tell what she was thinking.It took a moment, before she put her second hand on the back of the animal's head. With a swift opposite move (one hand pushing and the other pulling), she wrenched it's head into a 180 degree turn. Like the cover of a water bottle when it is first opened, the dog's neck creaked, popped, and snapped. The corners of it's chest mouth ripped wide apart, blood pouring out from the jagged skin, and it let out a silent back before falling limp in her hands. She threw the body of the animal onto the ground, seemingly satisfied.

Adrenaline was not something she lacked at this point. And the sound of Mika screaming did not help this. She wheeled around, cringing at the scream, herself covering her ears. It was so painful; as fear and panic flooded through her body. It's got to stop, this was torture, complete torture. It's got. To. STOP.

The tall one flew over to Mika's side, spearing the animal in the chest with a swift tail swoop. It sunk right through, tearing it's way past all the warm tissues, she could feel it's blood trickling down her tail. Destiny placed a large hand on Mika's face once more, trying to get her to stop screaming. She ignored the fact that canine male was...erm...admiring the two of them. She could feel his gaze on her naked body. But Mika was more important, she could deal with the man later. Actually, you could expect to see a glance to the side, right through the man's shutter shades. It was a look that spelled D.E.A.T.H., to put it simply.Dirty looks aside, she spread the spikes on her tail and proceeded to rip it out, damaging as many tissues inside the chest cavity, tearing open the animal's lungs, letting it bleed out in front of them both.

"Mika!!! STOP IT!! STOP IT!!!!" she barked back, now trying desperately to shush the woman. She then turned her head around, facing Nyll directly "Kill it!" the tone was urgent, raw.

Mika's screaming assailed Roric a lot more violently then the prior shared paired he had experienced with Nyll. He cringed in his stupid fighting pose as the woman's wailing rang through the air- the terrible, ear-shattering sound carrying with her as she launched a frenzied attack on the third toothdog. His fists uncurled, momentarily forgetting all about the growling beast in front of him and Nyll, grasping painfully up to his ears.

-"FUCK I'M TALKING HERE."

Keat's eyes moved back to Nyll, attention focusing away from the echoing in his eardrums and back to their dire situation.

"Ur-" Yeah. Still too overpowered by the world around him to form coherent sentences, but as his head followed Nyll's pointing he obviously meant to say something more along the lines of 'wow, good idea, Nyll buddy. Let's do that right away". The toothdog still seemed a lot keener on digging its jaws into his feline companion- Roric took the opportunity to turn his back and sprint towards those buildings Nyll had suggested.

He stops at the first wall he hits- (literally. The git has to hold out an arm to save his face from brick)- it's the front of the shop him and Nyll woke up on top of. He raises his head to quickly study the peeling red paint of a large banner atop the doorframe. '-Ed's Pet S-op'. The only letters still distinguishable. A large cracked window to his left, Roric has to squint to see the bent wire frames of abandoned cages and shelves through the dust coated glass. Could always try and get a piece of broken glass to fight with...he decides against it, bending instead to give a muffled grunt as he pulls a long metal bar from the street rubble. It could have been part of stair railing once or something- but now its purpose is toothdog face smasher.

"B'Y!" Roric turns, tossing the new weapon over to Nyll- who's in perfect striking range of the last dog.

The woman stopped screaming, looking blankly at Destiny as her voice finally quieted. Mika's hands still gripped that rock, a little bloody and broken from being smashed into furry flesh repeatedly before Destiny had intervened. The young woman was shaking, wobbling a little as the world tilted around her in a blurry mass, the rock falling with a dull clatter to the ground as she gave a dry sob. She hunched over, hands reaching up to rake hair out of her face as she dry heaved violently, attempting to clear out an already empty stomach. Tears ran down her cheeks, one hand moving down to wipe off her nose with the back of her hand before she stood up and lunged forward to try and hug Destiny almost violently. "Oh God. Oh God. Those are monsters! Those are monsters! Why are there monsters here?!" Her voice cracked and wavered, going up a pitch before she reigned it in as she pulled back to wrap her arms around her own shoulders. Blue eyes darted toward the mangled form of the dog still dying right next to him, her glowing making the scene an almost surreal still from a horror movie. Mika wanted to pretend she was watching said movie, but the smell of blood and the taste of bile in her mouth said otherwise.

Roric's sudden cry caught her attention, her face moving to watch as the metal bar he had found sailed through the air. There was still another dog yet, and Mika shuddered visibly as she moved a little closer to her partner. The red-haired man looked like he wanted to run, and the young woman was inclined to agree with him. Run as far and as fast as they could, get away from this horrible place and get back home... Where ever home maybe. She swallowed thickly, hugging herself a little tighter as she looked back at Roric before looking once more at Nyll with obvious worry.

The spinning metal seemed to almost twirl in slow motion as Nyll watched his fingers reach out to catch it. Cold dusty metal hit the center of his palm, his fingers gripping the bar. Then the world shifted and the last toothdog's jaws were the only thing Nyll could see.

Did he fall backwards or did his body arch away he wasn't sure, but the snarling creature flew past his chin, it's tail brushing past Nyll's neck right before he fell and rolled to the side. Nyll picked himself back up and ran towards the toothdog, metal weapon raised, as the animal fumbled around, trying to get up. Both set of jaws drooled and it pounced with a bark, opening wide, determined to bite Nyll's head off of his shoulders.

There it was again, the toothdog's glistening teeth, tongue and throat. The long bar in his hands ran straight down the monster's throat, a distorted whimper and choking heard before the toothdog started thrashing about. Nyll still had a death grip on the bar, and before it could fight it's way from the bar, he jerked the bar upwards while pushing down.

A sickening crack was heard as the toothdog's main jaw was broken apart along with getting it's throat ripped open. Nyll has the tiniest tremble running throughout his body, his hands still on the metal now covered in thick blood. He slammed it into the toothdog's body for good measure, though it sickened him further and he backed up, turning away and covered his mouth with the inside of his elbow, trying to breathe in his own scent instead of the smell of blood, closing his eyes trying not to see the breaking of bones and flesh as clear as day.

The redhead breathed like that for a while, back turned away from the carcass behind him. He swallowed and fought the feeling of nausea.

Shuddering, he turned to the two women, glancing at them before looking at Roric. Well... What now?

Her panic faded as the woman before he slowed her screams. She watched the rock drop from Mika's hand, feeling her stomach suddenly immitating its motion. As Mika dry heaved Destiny was able to perceive a rather large lump threatening to make its way up her esophagus and out through her mouth, but she resisted this one, placing a fist to her mouth, and swallowing it back quickly. She closed her eyes, controlling her body with grace, taking a few breaths to stop the immediate nausea.Just as she opened her eyes to absorb her surroundings she was almost tackled by Mika herself, who was throwing her body in for a hug. Destiny arms flew to her chest, recoiling under the embrace, frozen in confusion. Like an animal that has never been touched, she did not know what to do, her mind raced at the thousand possibilities and opportunities Mika had to end her. It took her a moment to see that this embrace was not violent in any way; there was a sort of demand of reassurement from the brown haired woman's pose. She calmed her tense arms, letting them insinctively wrap around her partner's back, finally returning the hug....

But that ended rather quickly, as her attention was turned once more to the red headed feline man thing. She watched him obliterate the creature's throat, and also watched him turn from the dead beast in utmost disgust. He burried his face in his elbow, and it was only then that Destiny's olfactory sense let the warm and metallic smell of fresh blood wash through her sinuses. Like a mother lion to her cub, Destiny lay a large clawed hand on Mika's nape, protectively, as she too soon comes back to the sense that she didn't like the two that stood before her. Nyll and Roric observed them both, and she observed them right back, narrowing her eyes at the pair. Unlike herself they were dressed, but also unlike herself, they seemed less confident of their situation.Destiny knew not where they were, nor why they were here, she however had this gut instinct that no matter how little she liked them it was best to hang in packs. A group. A herd. Four heads was better then two. It doesn't mean she can trust them. The only one she trusted was Mika....and even then.

Letting go of the woman's nape, Destiny stepped towards Nyll, full naked body exposed, swinging her tail from side to side. From a first glance, he seemed the smarter one between the two, and thus would have more of an alpha stance. Now standing in front of him, she arched her tail, testing his authority, staring him down. He was much shorter then she was, at least a head's worth. She straight off thought him as of being less dominant, due to his obvious vertical problem. Satisfied with this fact the girl turned her attention to Roric, eyeing him in the same judgemental manner. She peered through his shutter shades, boring holes into his pupils, putting a foot down on the fact that they were less "superior".All this without coming close to talking. Body language, tail arches, confident poses and narrowed eyes. Maybe a slight snarl on her face. All naked.

Pecking order in place, she trotted to the beast Nyll had killed, took it by the ankle and lifted the dead wet weight from the grimy city floor. It only took a single swift motion for her to wrench out the pipe from it's throat, throwing the said pipe on the ground and shouldering the animal. She was hungry, and this abundance of meat should not be wasted, no matter what. She motionned Nyll and Roric and Mika to take the other carcasses, in an almost orderly way. The fight from earlier was now forgotten, as she moved on.

"We need to.....to....um" she clearly struggled with making a flowing sentence, racking her brain for a minute. "...eat. And sleep." her tone was calm, collected, a leader-like tone. "Find a place to.....sleep. And.....um.......hide."